A propaganda film, made in the early months of World War II, dramatizing a new group of U.S. Army Air Force pilots receiving their wings from Lt. General H.H. Arnold: on off-screen narrator... See full summary »

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A propaganda film, made in the early months of World War II, dramatizing a new group of U.S. Army Air Force pilots receiving their wings from Lt. General H.H. Arnold: on off-screen narrator introduces four of them to us, we see them before the war, during flight training, and in their first assignments as pilots. In flashbacks, we see one with his parents, we meet another's younger brother, we see one with his wife, and meet the fourth pilot's sweetheart. By the film's end, they are flying planes and matériel to General MacArthur in Australia and their families see Air Force planes flying overhead, protecting the nation from invasion. Written by
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In 1942, it was common practice to refer to Japanese as Japs and Germans as Nazis. For a post-Pearl Harbor propaganda film, this isn't as racist as it could have been. Newsreels of that time were often more racist than this.

Watching this, I wondered how many of the men lined up for Gen. "Hap" Arnold to pin their wings on them were real pilots. And out of those men, how many would die in combat. I don't know the statistics, but I would imagine that being part of a flight crew in 1942 wasn't a job with great long-term prospects.

If you're interested in American propaganda from the early part of American involvement, this is a good start. This isn't as good as the Frank Capra produced series "Why We Fight", but definitely worth a look if you are into World War II and American History of the mid-20th Century.

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